Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale

December 28th, 2012, 20:54

Hello.

Anyone play this game? Just wondering. It got horrid reviews (not that I care), but I played the (too short) demo and I loved it. I actually liked Daggerdale more than Dungeon Siege 3. For some reason Daggerdale really resonated with me. Oh, and the co-op allows you to save your character and all your loot where DS3's co-op doesn't from what I understand.

The skills in Daggerdale really impressed me. D&D must have some really cool skills. Basic stuff but nearly everything I saw I actually wanted to invest in. Compared to other games where the skills don't interest me much at times, it was refreshing to feel that way about the skill system.

The loot looked good too. And best of all, you actually see it on your character when you equip it! For some reason DS3 left this part out. Half the fun is seeing your character in the inventory screen wearing the new gear you just put on. Oh well.

And overall it just feels incredibly nerdy. I can't quite explain it. It's truly "Dungeons & Dragons". I felt like I was revisiting an old friend when I played it.

So yeah, give the demo a shot. It's short, but it gives you an idea of whether you'll like it or not. I would definitely recommend it.

Thoughts? Is there any LEGIT reason that this game got 3/10 and 4/10 reviews? It seems like good fun to me.

The low ratings are well deserved imo. I rushed out to buy it knowing it was a gamble and I lost. Maybe you'll like it though— you played through the demo which is more time than I could bear to give it. I mean the the dialogue was horrible. My impressions were the opposite of yours I'm afraid: horrid graphics, terrible quests & bad dialogue. I guess the only positive from me would be about seeing the equipment on your character after equipping it, oh and the low low price. But often you get what you pay for.

Oh, I am definitely going to buy it. I just wanted to hear some impressions from people on here. I always do that before I buy a game, just to see what people think of it.

I was also curious why it got such horrid reviews. To me, the game was fine. Nothing groundbreaking, sure, but solid. And the overall atmosphere just hooked me immediately. And the skills and character development, wonderful, nerdy stuff.

Why didn't you like the graphics? I thought they were fine. I mean, they weren't breathtaking visuals, but they served their purpose. I didn't think it was "ugly", although the dwarves looked a little "weird", but no biggie.

The quests were fine for me as well. Again, nothing groundbreaking, but solid. They served the purpose of getting me into combat situations.

The dialog was fine too. I was a little disappointed that there was no voices, but the dialog was simple and to the point. It was actually refreshing to see simple dialog, not walls of text.

Using a bow was really satisfying. I will say that about the game, from the little I played, it was very satisfying. Part of that was the core gameplay and part of it was the character customization.

So yeah, I will definitely buy this and give some more detailed feedback for anyone interested as I play through it.

Sadly, I haven't been exposed to much D&D stuff. I never had the board games or anything. But I did play D&D Heroes for the original Xbox with my dad, and that game was pure class. We also played Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance which uses the same rules if I'm not mistaken? That was another fun one.

The new rules in Daggerdale seem very cool, from the little I got to experience. Like I said, the skills and character customization aspects are wonderful. Bunch of skills/abilities/passive traits to choose from to customize your character. For some reason that really hit home for me, mostly because I actually liked all the abilities at my disposal.

But yeah, at least check out the demo. If you like what you get from the demo, I'm sure the full game is that much better. We'll be playing it and I'll report back sometime later with more details.

Might I suggest you try DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online). Not only is it a FREE D&D MMO, but we have an RPGWatch Guild on Khyber server and quite a few of the regulars from here play most days of the week. There are even a couple of threads in different forums dedicated to our gameplay. You'll find more info in our Team Corwin thread (only a few thousand posts) in the OFF TOPIC forum.

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale received generally negative reception, with a 47 score on Metacritic. Joystiq rated the game a 1.5 out of a 5 scale. They stated that "It's not just a bad game, it's a terrible use of Wizards of the Coast's timeless license"

GameSpy's Andrew Hayward also gave it a 1.5 "poor" rating out of 5, criticizing its lack of innovativeness, as well its voice-acting, character models and "dialogue-heavy" story.

Gametrailers gave it a 4.8 out of 10 saying that Daggerdale is cheapened by dull quests, bland combat, dreary environments, and an overall unpolished feel.

GameSpot gave it a 4.5/10 criticizing the distracting screen tearing, pop-in and bugs but enjoyed the core combat.

Eurogamer gave it 7/10, calling it solid but also noting its lack of innovation.

GameZone gave the game a 4.5 out of 10, stating "The fact that Daggerdale relies heavily on its D&D roots is perhaps its biggest downfall. From the cliché storyline to the uninspired side quests, muddled graphics, and most of all the bland and repetitive combat, Daggerdale is one place that you’ll be reluctant to save, let alone care about."

and my favorite-

Jeb Haught of The Charleston Gazette and Pavel Barter of the Belfast Telegraph complained that the game was very buggy, with the former concluding, "D&D: Daggerdale would be a fun game if it had received stringent testing."and the latter, "D&D has been around for over 35 years—it deserves much better than this."

It was Atari's last gasp on the Dungeons and Dragons license before they lost it in court. I'm glad they lost it, but can't be happy as Hasbro or Wizards of the coast have no plans for anymore sp rpg's only mmo's.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
The quotes pretty much sums up the game.

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale received generally negative reception, with a 47 score on Metacritic. Joystiq rated the game a 1.5 out of a 5 scale. They stated that "It's not just a bad game, it's a terrible use of Wizards of the Coast's timeless license"

GameSpy's Andrew Hayward also gave it a 1.5 "poor" rating out of 5, criticizing its lack of innovativeness, as well its voice-acting, character models and "dialogue-heavy" story.

Gametrailers gave it a 4.8 out of 10 saying that Daggerdale is cheapened by dull quests, bland combat, dreary environments, and an overall unpolished feel.

GameSpot gave it a 4.5/10 criticizing the distracting screen tearing, pop-in and bugs but enjoyed the core combat.

Eurogamer gave it 7/10, calling it solid but also noting its lack of innovation.

GameZone gave the game a 4.5 out of 10, stating "The fact that Daggerdale relies heavily on its D&D roots is perhaps its biggest downfall. From the cliché storyline to the uninspired side quests, muddled graphics, and most of all the bland and repetitive combat, Daggerdale is one place that you’ll be reluctant to save, let alone care about."

and my favorite-

It was Atari's last gasp on the Dungeons and Dragons license before they lost it in court. I'm glad they lost it but can't be happy as Hasbro or Wizards of the coast have no plans for anymore sp rpg's only mmo's.

Yet there's plenty of people on Metacritic and other sites that gave Daggerdale 8/10, 9/10, 10/10. Here's a review I like from Metacritic:

Hound_of_Culann
Jun 2, 2011
8
I don't know what everyone is talking about. There were a few bugs in this game, but I went online and played for hours, and they were very minor. It was easy to pick up and and play. The combat was fun, and I really enjoyed the leveling aspects of the game. Tons of loot and all of it different. The characters were really very versatile, and I felt easy to customize. For $15 I wasn't expecting the next Oblivion…and if I wanted to pen and paper role playing, I'd sit down with some friends and do some pen and paper role playing. If you are looking for some fun hack and slash then I recommend trying this game out. This is a great game at a great price.â€¦

So yeah, it's all subjective. I can look past most perceived "negatives" anyway. Lack of voice acting doesn't bother me, I don't really care what the NPC models look like, graphics are whatever, etc. So I should have fun with it

Yep, that's what I've found in my experience as well. It takes a lot, and I mean a LOT for me to label something a bad game. I find that most all games are playable if you're willing to give them a shot.

Downloading my copy now. 1.67 GB. Should be in in an hour or 2. Can't wait to check it out

One thing I definitely don't like about Daggerdale (based on the demo), is that in co-op mode, it's competitive. Meaning the first person to pick up the loot gets the stuff and if player 1 picks up everything, well, player 2 is just screwed then.

In Sacred 2 the loot is reserved for each party member, meaning player 1 can't just pick everything up if it's reserved for player 2. I really like this approach because it guarantees equal loot for all the party members. Daggerdale is the exact opposite and it's every man for themselves.

Thankfully my dad and I share and have no problem working together, but this definitely puts ranged classes at a disadvantage. Melee fighters will pick up all the loot because they are close to the dead bodies, whereas the ranged fighters won't pick up anything because the melee dudes got to it first. Not sure why they went this direction but eh, it's something we'll have to live with and work out if you're playing with a buddy.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
Thrasher and I found joy in the universally reviled Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. You can't just go by mass opinion. Most games have at least some merit. Dungeon Lords being the exception

Now that I can agree on. It's a case on how to release the same game three times and still be garbage.

I never tried Daggerdale because it simply looked horrible to me, and the negative opinions seemed to be almost universal.

But you're looking for a decent hack & slash game with co-op, I recommend trying Lord of the Rings: War in the North. I've only played the first few levels in single-player mode, but I can see it being a lot of fun in co-op, and many of the reviews mention that.

JDR, thanks for the recommendation. War in the North is another game we are planning on picking up in the future. Too bad there's no demo, but from what we saw in gameplay videos and reviews it looked really cool.

Played an hour or 2 of Daggerdale thus far and I gotta say, it's been a lot of fun so far! I honestly cannot understand why people gave this game such low reviews. It's not THAT bad.

And JDR, the negative opinions are not universal. There's 11 positive reviews on Metacritic for it and a few on Gamespot. Sure, most people rated it poorly, but there were others who thought it was a lot of fun.

So far so good. It's a fun hack n' slash game with co-op. Going to return to play it now and I'll report more impressions later on.